Committees question Big Four accountancy firms on involvement with Carillion

The Committees have written to the “Big 4” financial services firms KPMG, EY, PWC and Deloitte, asking for detailed accounts of any and all services the firms have offered Carillion, its subsidiaries and its pension scheme, over the last ten years, and what fees they were paid.

There have been conflicting reports as to the extent of the involvement of the four firms’ provision of professional services to Carillion, over various issues and transactions, and the Committees want to establish a clear timetable setting out who was involved, in what, when.

It is known that KPMG have audited Carillion’s accounts every year since the company’s inception in 1999, receiving £29.4 million in fees in the process. The latest set of audited financial accounts were signed off by KPMG with an unmodified opinion in March 2017, only for the company to go bust 9 months later. In light of this “dramatic turn of events”, the Committees have a series of additional specific questions to KPMG.

The four firms are expected to provide a full reply by Friday 2 February.